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Month: December 2013

I no longer have the responsibility of preparing and preaching sermons. But, I still have a habit of studying scriptures and writing out my thoughts to share with anyone who cares to listen. I have challenged myself to read the Ante-Nicene Fathers. For the first 300 years of the church, such writings were relied upon to instruct believers on true doctrine as the writers were of the same and one or two generations after the apostles. Even though these books were not included in the final list of New Testament books, they do provide the foundation from which our Holy Bible was founded on. Thus, the books of the early church fathers are very much worth reading to see how to live as a Christian. Besides, anyone can look up and read these books for free.

Clement, the fourth bishop of Rome and a disciple of Peter

Starting from the top, the First Epistle of Clement to the Corinthians defines Christian life by being sober minded and serious about the faith. Moderation, habitual hospitality, and being well grounded in knowledge are characteristics for all believers; not just the clergy. Division due to emulation and envy must be rejected. While bishops, priest, and deacons are to be held in respect, all are to be humble. Without humility, we make ourselves more vulnerable to sin. Clement gives examples of humility, the greatest of which is Jesus Christ Himself. He also holds up the prophets, Job, and Moses as worthy examples with biblical text references from Genesis, Exodus, Job, and Isaiah among others*.

David is also held up in chapter 18 (the chapters are no more than a few paragraphs, so don’t be intimidated to read this book). Keep in mind that this was the man that was after God’s own heart. He was God’s anointed and through his line came Joseph who was the surrogate father of our Lord. Yet, when caught in his sin, David pours himself out in one of the most heart felt cry of remorse and repentance. The 51st (50th in the Septuagint Old Testament translation) was a common prayer among the early church, thanks in part to Clement’s epistle. David the human ancestor of the Savior offered it. As we are a part of the family of the Lord and seek to follow Him, certainly these words are good enough for us when we acknowledge our sinful state whether we killed a man to cover up our adultery or lusted for someone or something.

Among Orthodox Christians, this psalm is still given as part of daily and weekly prayer disciplines. All Christians would do well to make this prayer and the humble mind frame of David, the other saints, and, above all, Jesus Christ a part of our new lives. Talk to your pastor or priest.

The grace of the Holy Trinity be with you.

I welcome comments and questions

(*If you have access to an English translation of the Septuagint, please read it in conjunction with the OT found in most English Bibles. There are sections where the translations are very different)

I am using the days of the Feast of the Nativity to reclaim and restore some things in my life that I have let slide for way too long. My gross little tank half filled with tannin stained water is a 35 gallon tank with schools of golden barbs and neon tetras. I have my medical and other bills together and will set things up to slowly pay them off. Tomorrow is going to be in the upper 50’s. So I will get to my car cleaned up. But today was a combination of the kitchen, some laundry, and my all important cell.

The Modern Monastic with my patron saints John the Baptist and Cyprian of Carthage and a photo with my wife.

Monks live cells as a place of prayer and solitude. As my wife’s condition went south, I moved to the spare bedroom. She had used it to store some of her notebooks and other things. I used it as well as a bit of a dumping ground. And I have never been a neat freak in the slightest. With me clearing out my office at the church and my wife and her aide slowly tackling getting the home office/junk room straight, I figured making my bedroom into a proper monastic cell would be a better option.

St. Moses the Ethiopian told a brother monk, “Go to thy cell and thy cell will teach thee everything.” In the state it was in, the only thing my cell could teach me is that I am a mental and spiritual bus accident waiting to happen. Seeing that I have been in three of them and there was damage in each, I figured I’d do something about it. Finishing the job, I found 3 bags of clothes that are heading for a donation bin. I haven’t decided what to do about my shortwave radio and scanner. And if my shotgun was in the house, I would have shot the old DirecTV box for fun.

But, a couple of items in my cell have prominence. I have an Oxford Study Bible with the Apocrypha that I have owned for about 20+ years. I also have the New Jerusalem Bible my father gave me when I graduated from VSU in 1989. Both of those Bibles have been with me in quiet contemplation and major wrestling matches. The photo of my wife and I taken when we got back together in 2000 (we did separate for two years for the sake of mutual mental health). Despite our inner demons and outer differences, we love and are very loyal to each other. A copy of the Life Magazine photo of Archbishop Iakovos with Martin Luther King Jr during the Selma to Montgomery March in 1965. Perhaps a foretaste of Orthodox Christianity and African-Americans coming together for dialogue and working together for the betterment of humanity.

Along with my prayers before my Matins in the living room, I am reading the Ante Nicene Fathers and taking notes. I need to remind myself to push myself to pray Compline. And also to spend time enjoying leisurely reading while listening to some good jazz every now and then.

I thank the Trinity Baptist Church, all of the churches of the Pamunkey Baptist Association, the Baptist General Convention of Virginia for giving me the chance to serve as a pastor for over 16 years and for introducing me to Jesus Christ and nurturing me in the faith for all of my life. Thanks to all who have taken the time to read my (frequently grammatically incorrect) sermons by following e-mail and Facebook alerts. Your acts of kindness, thoughts, and prayers have been a blessing to my wife and I. God has brought me to a new chapter in my life. But, I must acknowledge and pray that I will not disdain nor forget the friendships that I have forged over the years. May God bless us all this Christmas, in 2014, and unto the ages of ages.

Salvation Born In Humility Luke 2:4-7 Have you ever wondered what sorts…

I have an icon wall of saints that I look up to. Of course, these are not all of the great men and women of the faith that inspire me. But, these are the friends that grace the east wall in our living room (top to bottom, left to right):

Basil the Great of Cappedocia (patron of my church)

Mary the Theotokos

Christ Panocrantor

Cyprian of Carthage (my personal co-patron)

Athanasius of Alexandria (hero of canon and doctrine)

Isaac the Syrian (wise desert father)

Felicity and Perpetua (example of true sisterhood)

Peter the Aleut (chose death over conversion)

Anthony of the Desert (father of monastics)

Moses of Ethiopia (honored for repentance and forgiveness)

Philip the Apostle (patron of my prayer discipline)

Catherine of Alexandria (scholar and martyr)

Seraphim Rose (perhaps America’s most famous monk)

Panteleimon (healer and martyr)

Raphael of Brooklyn (organizer of the faithful Antiochians)

Herman of Alaska (evangelist to the natives)

I have a few other important images on our desk below the icon wall (left to right):

Gregory the Theologian (from my first visit to St. Basil)

H.L. Mays (my former shop teacher and mentor)

Louise Kersey (a dear cousin known for her kindness)

St. Mary of Egypt Parish Icon (from my pilgrimage)

Kursk-Root (from a ROCOR deacon and hiking partner)

Carter Wicks (my wife’s grandfather and ministry mentor)

Three crosses (Byzantine, Coptic, and Ethiopian)

Anthony the Great (on the book written by Athanasius)

These pictures and crosses cannot talk, move, nor do anything else. The faces stare back at me as I gaze upon them. I think about the lives they have led and the examples of faith they gave. Except for Christ, none of them were sinless. But, the images remind me to take the best of their character and add to my life. I fall short in my deeds, words, and thoughts. But, I am growing and have grown from how foolish I was in the past. In the words of the church that raised me: “I’m not all that I ought to be. But, thank God I am not what I used to be.” “Please, be patient with me. God is not through with me yet. When God gets through with me, I shall come forth as pure gold.”

Media images move. Politicians take stances. They dance on music videos. Actors and Actresses play their roles. Luis Suarez does the amazing (sorry, I am a fan). In a world where nothing stays still, there is something of great value in both ancient icons and images of those who have shaped our better natures. By one act or word, yesterday’s hero can turn into today’s villain and vice versa (see Luis Suarez). And when we dwell solely on the left or right side of the corrupt coin of earthly existence, anyone who is of the opposite side can be seen as a bitter, sub-human enemy no matter the goodness of their intentions or nature while those whom we side with are saints no matter how deplorable their actions, words, and thoughts.

While modern media of moving pictures can entertain and (on occasion) educate and inform, I believe we need to make room in our lives for the still images. The still images that cause us to remember where we came from, what love is, and that the world of good people goes beyond our limited borders of place and time. As we are all made in the image of God, we should give that same consideration to the living images we see every day. Let us not let modern media drive us away from the cloud of witnesses that surround us nor from human brotherhood that we are a part of. Love and honor whomever you hold dear in icons or photos. Love and honor the person who gave you the finger who cut you off in traffic and gave you the middle finger because you have an Obama or Tea Party bumper sticker.

For the first 300+ years, Christianity had no Bible nor legal status. Epistles and Gospels were floating around from church to church. There was the Septuagint, the Greek translation of the Old Testament (which is far older than our Old Testament and more accurately matches the Hebrew Dead Sea Scrolls). To instruct the early Christians, the men who were ordained by the apostles who would ordain others after them relied on the tradition handed down by those who walked with Jesus during his ministry on earth.

Bishop Ignatius of Antioch with his “friends”

One of the most admired of these men was Ignatius. According to Orthodox tradition, he was the child that Jesus sat in the midst of the disciples when they asked, “Who is the greatest in the kingdom of heaven.” Ignatius became a disciple under John the Gospel writer and served as the bishop of Antioch after Peter and Paul before his martyrdom to the lions in Rome. En route to his death, this bishop wrote a series of letters concerning church unity and practice.

In his Epistle to the Magnesians, Ignatius gives a lesson on how Christians are to approach the Sabbath and the Lord’s Day (note: they are NOT the same):

Let us therefore no longer keep the Sabbath after the Jewish manner, and rejoice in days of idleness; for “he that does not work, let him not eat.”688 For say the [holy] oracles, “In the sweat of thy face shalt thou eat thy bread.” 689But let every one of you keep the Sabbath after a spiritual manner, rejoicing in meditation on the law, not in relaxation of the body, admiring the workmanship of God, and not eating things prepared the day before, nor using lukewarm drinks, and walking within a prescribed space, nor finding delight in dancing and plaudits which have no sense in them.690 And after the observance of the Sabbath, let every friend of Christ keep the Lord’s Day as a festival, the resurrection-day, the queen and chief of all the days [of the week].

The idea that Sunday is the “Christian Sabbath” was not taught by the first Christians nor is it taught by the first and oldest continuous expression of Christianity, the Orthodox Church. Saturday is still the Sabbath Day. It is a day of great reverence for the law of God. But, it is not a day of rest as taught by Judaism. Those who wish to work should do so. If chores have to be done, let them be done. We are to do as we wish as long as we are mindful that the Lord is the creator and sustainer of all things.

Sunday is the day Christians are to celebrate the Resurrection of Jesus. Ignatius gives no ban on labor or travel. But his words, “as a festival,” indicate that we friends of Christ are to be joyful and in celebration with one another. As ancient believers were under persecution until 325 AD, I doubt if any of them asked to have Sunday off from the job. Nevertheless, the Lord’s Day was the day to be with fellow believers and celebrate the gift of salvation.

To be honest with you, the question of “why” I would leave a 16 year pastorate to become Orthodox hasn’t come up too often. Oh, my church family was shocked and some tearful when I made the announcement within my sermon on December 1st. But, the ones who took the time to follow my post on the church and my personal blog saw this coming. I posted an icon with each of my manuscripts. What good Baptist preacher does that? And my excursion to the St. Moses the Black Conference in October was pretty much a sign that it was a matter of time before I stepped down. Even those who didn’t go online heard the wording of some of my prayers and thought there was something different. “Holy God, Holy Mighty, Holy Immortal Have Mercy On Us” doesn’t sound quite like “God Is Good All The Time and All The Time God Is Good.” They knew I was different. The surprise was that I would actually move to that different perspective.

Most people seem to accept that God has called me to do something different. I am going to miss them, and they will miss me as well. But, most ministers today don’t stay but maybe 5 or so years in their first pastoral assignment. I was at Trinity for 16+. In this day of pastoral scandals and suicides, I am walking away from the pulpit with nothing to be ashamed of and not in a coffin. There are no hard feelings between myself nor anyone in the church. Plus, there is a solid core of active members, some in their 20’s. So, leaving when I am doing well and the church is doing well, is not a bad thing.

There have been some concerned voices that I was going about this unadvisedly. But, that is the good thing about the St. Simon’s Order blog. Anyone who has read my post over the past year and a half knows that my move to Orthodoxy was a work in progress and that I am not going into the ancient faith with some sense of looking for greener grass on the other side of the fence. Heck, I will be picking up a part-time gig to make up for my lost pastoral salary. Plus, when one of my trusted advisers is a pastor who has known me since my childhood and taught sociology and served as the dean of the chapel at a university, no one can say that I haven’t put any serious thought into making this change.

True, this doesn’t make sense. Why would an African-American pastor who is well loved and respected walk away from his pulpit to join a predominately white church in a city that is over 93% white 50 miles away from home? Because the church that I am joining is every bit as African as it is Arabic and European. St. Basil Antiochian has people from different ethnic backgrounds. I am reclaiming a part of my African heritage and helping to end the fact that “Eleven o’clock Sunday morning is the most segregated hour in America” (Martin Luther King “Letter from Birmingham Jail). As I explained in the sermon a couple of Sunday’s ago, Peter asked to step out of the boat. Jesus told him to come. This conversion is my stormy sea to step out on. In the end, Jesus calmed the storm and led them all safely to the other side. No, I am not getting a lot of “whys.” I am getting a lot of “we will miss yous, God bless yous, and good lucks.”

A brother on the Black Orthodox Christians Facebook Page, Colin, must have been digging through the crates when he found this lost gem of hip-hop.

In all honesty, I remember this beat from Schooly D’s “P.S.K” (the father of all “gangsta” rap). In fact, I have heard some of these lines from the mouths of other MCs. There is great value in the original.

Yeah, listening to this right after my Matins prayers has me pumped. Not that I am a sudden expert on Orthodoxy. But, I know enough to know that people would do well to come and see what is Orthodox Christianity and choose a spiritual direction based on prayer, and information. I am sure some will choose not to convert to the faith. But, I see my role is to bring the information to the people and point them to where they can learn more. Since folk are more likely listen to someone who is walking what they are talking, I guess it inevitable that I’d convert.

Piecing together the Desert Fathers Dispatch, I have brother Robert, who is providing me with some good advice about expanding the reach of the blog. I am still forming an e-mail list of every Orthodox Church of every jurisdiction in the state. Some parishes don’t have websites. So, snail mail must be used. I suppose I will create brochures about African saints as well. I hope to meet with other believers and get more suggestions and help. Perhaps February would be good to get people together. Maybe late March. We will see. In the meantime, I am motivated to live the life. That is the best example of the faith and knowledge.

I was ready to go to church today. Some of the dust had settled from the bomb that was dropped last weekend. But, with the threat of icy roads for much of King William County, the deacons and members decided to cancel services. I didn’t want to go out to St. Basil in dicey weather. So, I stayed home and made salmon cakes for brunch as I proceeded to begin one of my goals in the Orthodox Church, the organization of the Virginia Chapter of the Brotherhood of St. Moses the Black. The blog site is up. I ran the skeleton past some of my fellows in the state and posted the link on the Black Orthodox Christians Facebook page and my home page. Soon, I’d like to send this to every Orthodox congregation (Eastern and Oriental) just to see how many of us are out there and how many people are interested in having a more multi-cultural Church.

It looks like my Chrismation will be on the first Sunday in January. I’m looking at having two sponsors. One is a member of St. Basil and the other is a friend I met in KC. It will be interesting to learn Byzantine chant. But, there is a soul and spirituality from the black Protestant music tradition that is more than worthy of being celebrated and preserved. The feast day of St. Moses is the 28th of August. I am thinking the state chapter of the BSMB could plan to meet at a church to celebrate with some of the classic Negro Spirituals. This could be our first state wide project. We will see.

We sang this at the Hampton University Minister’s Conference one year. I wish we had this in the Baptist Hymnal.

I could have written something between work and the Paraklesis yesterday evening. I needed a good laugh and found this website of fashions from the 1970′ and posted one of those horrid leisure suits on my Facebook page. What was once impressive and sophisticated in clothing is now the object of ridicule and scorn. (Okay, that was a loaded sentence that I am nor even prepared to continue to expound on)

Advent Paraklesis/Parakesis prayers are probably one of the least most popular services in Orthodoxy. Worshipers are to stand through the whole service. It is held on Friday (start of the weekend, favorite TV shows, kid’s high school sports) night. There is no meal or repasts after the service. Going to a Christmas party seems far more fun, especially if there is food that fits the Nativity Fast. After all, we have prayer books, the priest is neither serving the Eucharist nor giving a sermon.

In this time of Christmas being degenerated into the Winter Festival, I find that being in the presence of God at these prayers a welcome refreshment. The sight of the icons and smell of incense transforms me from tacky outdoor decorations to the place of holiness. The chants and prayers explicitly focus on the birth of our Lord and Savior without reindeer, snowmen, and the false perpetration of one of the favorite saints of the Church. At this prayer service, the connection to Orthodox doctrine is strengthened ( this is also a good time to recommit to the Nativity Fast that is so easily broken).

For the non-Orthodox, I invite you to come and see for yourself. Because there are relatively few worshipers, you may even have time to talk to the priest and learn about the ancient faith. But, if you refuse, do take a portion of your week away from the Santa dominated decor and focus on your prayer life. To the Orthodoxy, go to your icon corner and worship if you cannot make it to your church. But, make every effort to maintain this wonderful tradition of prayer.

First, Memory Eternal to Nelson Mandela! I can think of no other man in my generation who had ever moved the world in the ways of reconciliation as this man did. Instead of a call for justice and retribution, Mandela called for forgiveness and peace. While South Africa has many problems, the nation did not turn into a racial war zone as many had predicted. In 2010, they hosted a heck of a World Cup. Sometimes, letting bygones be bygones is a great way to move forward.

I am tempted to rant a bit about those who oppose my choice to become Orthodox. But, I suppose Mandela could have ranted about his mistreatment at Robben Island Prison. But, he had a habit of warmly greeting his prison guards. He refused to let the attitudes of others determine his. I see the work that lies before me. It is in my best interest not to let my critics worry me and focus on the task, I feel, God is leading me to. So, I have begun to reach out to others who are interested in forming the Virginia Chapter of the Brotherhood of St. Moses the Black. As expected, I have produced a working rough draft of a monthly newsletter/blog for the group as well. I won’t wallow in worry. I will walk on through this storm. I am following someone and something greater than I.